I hear about fear of insurance being perceived as a commodity. There is an on-going challenge to differentiating yourself from competitors whom prospects know represent the same, or similar insurance programs. While we don’t sell insurance, we have the same problem selling insurance telemarketing and list services to agents and brokers. To some degree we all sell commodities, or at least perceived commodities, either because we REALLY sell commodities, or we don’t take the time to educate our clients on roll in providing them with the service. Are your clients JUST buying insurance, or are they buying your expertise, knowledge and experience. Some companies have a “no demo – no sale” policy to try and prevent sales people from taking short cuts. We don’t have such a policy but we do try to encourage sales people to start at the beginning of the sales process and complete each step thoroughly to make sure the customer understands our unique business proposition and any added value we bring to the table. When a prospective client calls, or walks in there is a tendency to assume the prospect has a higher level of interest and a tendency to skip vital steps in the sales process. By skipping steps such as thorough discovery and a clear presentation of your unique differences matched up to the prospect’s inefficiencies you are reinforcing their perception of your product as a commodity. If you need more, qualified commercial lines leads, check out our new web site www.neilsonmarketing.com